Performance Related Bonuses

[1man1desk]

This is an interesting topic - sorry for joining late.

Personally, I think that there ought to be viable ways of applying performance-related pay to archaeology, if that is what you want to do. It is a labour-intensive industry, and PRP is all about improving the efficiency of your labour force through financial incentives. It could be applied at any (or all) of three levels, all mentioned in previous posts:

• payments to individuals for good performance
• payments shared amongst whole project teams for achievements on an individual project
• payments shared amongst all unit staff for achievements over a whole year

Whatever approach you take, it is important to define in advance what the nature of the achievements to be rewarded is and the basis on which the payments will be allocated. If it is to be done, I would favour the project-team approach, for the following reasons:

• it is easier to define the required achievements
• payment would come sooner
• it is more equitable - especially for low-paid site staff

Years ago, I did something similar myself on an informal basis when I was directing excavations, by distributing a cash bonus to site staff at the end of the fieldwork. That was in the old 'volunteer' days, though, and the money came from a fund that was used to distribute cash subsistence payments to staff. It might be hard to do under present conditions.

All that said, though, I am not sure that PRP is the best way to motivate your staff. Improving working conditions, equipment and non-pay benefits (pensions, holidays, job security etc) would probably be a better approach to motivation.

1man1desk

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